President Trump unleashed a tweetstorm Monday calling for NBC “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd to be fired after the show admitted that it erred in cutting short a sound bite of Attorney General William P. Barr.
“THIS IS A DISGRACE, EVEN WORSE THAN @NBC USUALLY IS, WHICH IS REALLY BAD. SLEEPY EYES MUST BE FIRED!” tweeted Mr. Trump, using his nickname for Mr. Todd.
He later tweeted, “He should be FIRED by Concast [sic]. If done by a Republican, would be ’prosecuted.’ ” NBCUniversal is owned by Comcast.
Mr. Trump also retweeted several comments critical of the “Meet the Press” segment, including “sleazy hit job” and “Chuck Todd Faceplants With Deceptive Video of William Barr.”
@FCC THIS IS A DISGRACE, EVEN WORSE THAN @NBC USUALLY IS, WHICH IS REALLY BAD. SLEEPY EYES MUST BE FIRED! https://t.co/NWy7WTxH8e
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2020
He should be FIRED by Concast. If done by a Republican, would be “prosecuted”. @AjitPaiFCC https://t.co/Lqi3oWEaiP
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2020
Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd should be FIRED by “Concast” (NBC) for this fraud. He knew exactly what he was doing. Public Airwaves = Fake News! @AjitPaiFCC @FCC https://t.co/fLTDhjMXo4
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2020
Mr. Trump also accused Mr. Todd of “fraud,” tweeting Sunday that, “He knew exactly what he was doing.”
“Meet the Press” issued a mea culpa Sunday after Mr. Todd played a clip of a CBS interview with Mr. Barr that cut short his full comments on how history would view his effort to dismiss the charges against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
The sound bite showed Mr. Barr saying that, “Well, history’s written by the winners,” but left out his comment that “a fair history would say it was a good decision because it upheld the rule of law.”
Mr. Todd then criticized Mr. Barr, saying he “didn’t make the case that he was upholding the rule of law,” even though the attorney general had done so.
After Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec called out the show for “deceptive editing,” “Meet the Press” tweeted, “You’re correct.”
The show said that it “inadvertently and inaccurately cut short a video clip of an interview of AG Barr,” adding that, “we regret the error.” Mr. Todd has not yet commented publicly.
In his tweets, Mr. Trump also tagged the accounts of the Federal Communications Commission and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.
Very disappointed by the deceptive editing/commentary by @ChuckTodd on @MeetThePress on AG Barr’s CBS interview.
— KerriKupecDOJ (@KerriKupecDOJ) May 10, 2020
Compare the two transcripts below. Not only did the AG make the case in the VERY answer Chuck says he didn’t, he also did so multiple times throughout the interview. pic.twitter.com/PR1ciceMmE
Update: Response from @MeetThePress. https://t.co/iU9iuc0twX
— KerriKupecDOJ (@KerriKupecDOJ) May 11, 2020
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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